Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $59.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior target price of $60.00.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $57.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.91. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.78 and its 200 day moving average is $64.69.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $409.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 90.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 1,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.06, for a total transaction of $129,901.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $527,134.98. This trade represents a 19.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total value of $336,105.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,078.30. The trade was a 97.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 6.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 8.0% in the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.3% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 95,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,425,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.8% during the first quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 292.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) is an independent global investment bank that provides strategic and financial advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, governments and other institutions. The firm advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, liability management, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.

Moelis & Company serves clients across a range of industries, including technology, media and telecommunications; consumer and retail; energy and infrastructure; financial services; healthcare; industrials; and real estate.